After almost two years, Armie Hammer is speaking out about the sexual assault and misconduct allegations brought against him.
In a new interview, the Call Me By Your Name actor shared that the scandal almost led him to take his own life and recalled his own sexual trauma at the hands of a youth pastor, which he said first spurred his interest in BDSM.
"Sexuality was introduced to me in a scary way where I had no control," Hammer told Air Mail magazine in comments posted Feb. 4. "My interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually."
Hammer said he was 13 when he suffered the sexual abuse. Now 36, he has not filmed an acting project since multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct in early 2021.
One of them, Effie, said at a press conference in March of that year that she was raped by Hammer after they began a relationship in 2016 after meeting on Facebook. The Los Angeles Police Department launched a sexual assault investigation into her accusations, and it remains ongoing.
The actor, whose rep previously denied Effie's allegations as "outrageous," told Air Mail that the "alleged rape was a scene that was her idea," which they planned together in advance on Facebook Messenger. "We would engage in what is called a 'consensual non-consent scene,' he said, adding, "I have never thrust this on someone unexpectedly. Never."
Other former partners of Hammer have also accused him of sexual misconduct, In the 2022 discovery+ docuseries House of Hammer, Courtney Vucekovich alleged that she had participated in sexual acts with the actor that included bondage and biting, and that one particular incident was "very degrading and very belittling."
Another ex, Paige Lorenze, who did not participate in the docuseries, told E! News in 2021 that the actor "slowly started easing her into BDSM-related activities in the bedroom," adding that the acts were consensual.
In his interview with Air Mail, while denying any criminal wrongdoing, Hammer acknowledged "one million percent" that he was emotionally abusive to his accusers and admitted there was an "imbalance of power" regarding his past relationships with Vucekovich and Lorenze, noting that they were a decade younger than him and that he was a "successful actor at the time" they were involved.
The sexual misconduct allegations, which came months following the actor's 2020 split from wife Elisabeth Chambers, took a personal toll on Hammer. He told Airmail that in February 2021, a month after the first accusations went viral, he attempted suicide while quarantining in the Cayman Islands.
"I just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark," he said. "Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn't do that to my kids."
While his acting career remains stalled, Hammer, who shares daughter Harper, 8, and son Ford, 6, with Chambers, told Air Mail he is focusing on helping others. The actor, who underwent rehab for "drug, alcohol and sex issues" following the scandal, said he plans to become a sober companion and move in with a fellow recovering addict.
Reflecting on himself, Hammer said he wants to "take accountability for the fact that I was an a--hole, that I was selfish, that I
used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on."
He added, "I'm now a healthier, happier, more balanced person. I'm able to be there for my kids in a way I never was."